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When Emil Fischer took over for Lee Joannes as team president in 1947, the Green Bay Packers were a mess.

Packers co-founder and coach Curly Lambeau was in a destructive personal and professional battle with several members of the team's executive committee, and the NFL's lone remaining small-city team was bleeding money.

The fledgling All-America Football Conference was driving up salaries, and some NFL owners wanted the Packers either to move or shut down operations because they were a drag on the NFL's profitability. ...